United Closing In On Milestone

Hatem Ben Arfa stunning equaliser against Aston Villa last time out was Newcastle United's 999th goal in the Premier League, since the Magpies made their bow in the competition at the start of the 1993/94 season.

So if United can net once at Everton on Monday night - as they have done on Merseyside for the last two seasons - the scorer of that goal will have the honour of bringing up the 1,000-goal landmark.

Newcastle's first Premier League goal, back in August 1993, was in fact an own goal, scored by Coventry's Peter Atherton at Highfield Road, as the Sky Blues triumphed 2-1.

It wasn't until three days later that Andy Cole became the first Magpie to hit the back of the net in the Premier League when he netted the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

Newcastle's 100th goal was scored by Rob Lee in a 4-2 win over Chelsea in September 1994, while goal number 500 was Gary Speed's consolation in the 3-1 defeat at Fulham in November 2001

Should United reach the 1,000-goal mark this Monday, they will be the sixth club to do so, with the other top scorers being:

Newcastle's favourite opponents for scoring goals against are Tottenham (60), closely followed by Aston Villa (57). At the other end, Liverpool (73) and Manchester United (70) are most prolific against the Magpies.

The 999 goals are broken down as follows:

ALL PREMIER LEAGUE GAMESP694 W278 D187 L229 F999 A887 Pts1021

HOME PREMIER LEAGUE GAMESP348 W187 D89 L72 F612 A360 Pts650

AWAY PREMIER LEAGUE GAMESP346 W91 D98 L157 F387 A527 Pts371

Of their 999 Premier League goals, United have had 102 different scorers (plus 31 own goals). The top ten reads: